Behind The Barlows
by connorsxcarter
Summary: The life behind the Barlow family
1. ChapterOne

It's been 8 months since the roof collapse and Carla and Peter are starting to struggle as Peter attempts to help Daniel battle his drinking and Carla becomes a mother figure to Bertie...

Carla walks downstairs, baby monitor in hand "He's finally settled"

"Ah okay, good" replies Peter, clearly not happy as Carla has to deal with Bertie by herself as he can't leave Daniel

"Is he okay?" She butts in whilst looking at Daniel who is passed out on the sofa with an empty bottle in hand

"No but he will be once he takes those headaches tablets, you forget I have a phd in hangovers" Peter replies following with a chuckle

"You and me both" Carla replies looking serious as she puts the baby monitor on the table

"You alright love?" Peter replies growing concerned

"Yeah, just worried about Bertie because he's hardly getting any time with dad because he won't stop drinking" Carla answers as she thinks back to her own mother and childhood

"He will get better, it just takes time and he needs to learn to man up a bit" Peter replies, seeing the frown on Carla's face he rubs her arm to comfort her

"It just reminds me of a time I don't want to be reminded of, that's why I want to be there for Bertie so he doesn't feel alone like me and Rob did, I mean we had each other but even then it's not the same, you move on" Carla replies as pools of tears start to fill her eyes

"Oh come here" Peter replies as he puts his arms out gesturing to give her a hug

Carla wipes her eyes and puts on a little smile as Bertie cries through the baby monitor "No, I'm fine, sounds like somebody's awake, that didn't last long"

Peter gives a little smile back and chuckles "as long as your sure, do you want me to go?"

"No it's okay, thank you tho" Carla replies as she walks upstairs to calm an upset Bertie

Hours later and Carla is back home (Roy's) with Bertie as Daniel is clearly still worse for wear whereas Peter is cleaning up his room where Daniel is staying and he picks up a bottle of whisky and just stands there looking at it knowing that he shouldn't drink it but everything lately is so stressful he wants to, he goes to open it but Carla walks in...

"They really do say you get slower as you get older" she laughs trying to get his attention

"Hm" replies a dissapointed Peter

"You okay?" Carla questions noticing Peter didn't enjoy her sarcasm when he usually does

"Yeah fine, just give me a minute love and i'll be there" he answers as he turns to look at Carla with a smile

"Okay..." she replies hesitantly as she notices the bottle of whisky in his hand

Peter looks at the bottle then puts it in the bin "Right come on, let's go" he replies as he walks out of the door dodging Carla

"Okay" she replies followed with a deep sigh as she puts her hands in her pockets and follows Peter as he walks downstairs

"Where's Bertie?" Peter asks as he picks up and puts on his navy green jacket

"Sleeping at Roy's, you should see Roy with him it is the sweetest thing ever" replies Carla as a huge smile brightens up her face

"He's not holding our baby" Peter snaps as he leaves the house clearly in a mood

A huge smile on Carla's face immediately turns into a frown as Peter says that and she follows him as he walks to Roy's feeling guilty for snapping at Carla

They both walk in the house to see Roy holding Bertie and Bertie is slowly sent off to sleep, Carla watches over and gives off a little smile wheras Peter walks straight into the bedroom

"Ah, I was just..." an uneasy Roy says as he looks at Carla

"You don't need to explain I know you're a soft touch" she replies with a smile on her face

"He just seemed unsettled" replies Roy as he starts to calm a bit

"Yeah... he needs Daniel really, do you mind having him for a bit longer I just need to talk to Peter, you can put him in the moses basket if you prefer" she replies as the smile fades away

"No of course not, whatever you need" he replies showing he would do anything for her

She smiles "Thanks Roy"

He nods as she walks into the bedroom...

"What is your problem!?" Carla immediately shouts at Peter after she shuts the door, blocking the sound from Bertie

"Using our baby to get out your anger, that's low Peter even for you"

"I'm sorry, it just came out" he replies slightly upset

She looks at him noticing he is upset fighting back the tears herself "Peter, just tell me what's wrong"

He sits on the bed "Everythings just a mess... Daniel's drinking, Bertie's constantly under our care" Peter replies leaving out any of his thoughts to drink

"You could've talked to me, rather than putting on the big man act" she replies calmly

"You've got your own problems" he replies "I didn't want to worry you..."

"Worry me?" Carla replies as her face is stunned with shock and she sits on the bed next to him "Peter I love you, anything that you're worried about I'm worried about too, that's just how it is, you can't change that" she holds his hand

Peter looks at their hands and smiles "Okay, I'm sorry"

"It's okay" she replies as she rests her head on his shoulder and they just hold hands


	2. ChapterTwo

The next day Carla decides to take Bertie out for the day with Beth leaving Daniel some more 'Me Time' and Peter is in Barlow's Legal Services with Adam

"How was he when you left him?" Adam asks whilst fiddling with his pen

"How do you think he is? He can't stop drinking and won't listen to me or Carla" Peter looks at Adam concerned

"He did just lose his wife Peter" replies Adam looking back

"Yeah I get that but he has a kid to provide for now rather than thinking he can hit the bottle and it won't affect Bertie, I get that's hard believe me you" Peter replied trying to be humorous

"Hm" said Adam still fiddling with his pen

"You're a great help Adam" trying to be sarcastic Peter leaves

Adam sighs and calls Carla to check she is okay before heading to see Daniel

Peter walks in the house to see Daniel day on the floor watching videos of Sinead, crying and drinking

"You're just torturing yourself now mate" Peter walks over to Daniel and takes the bottle of whisky off him giving it a long deep look and going into his own little world whilst Daniel pours his heart out

"Peter!..." Daniel shouts tearfully to get his attention

Peter zones back in "sorry" he places the bottle on the table and walks over to Daniel closing the laptop

"You didn't listen to a word I just said... Where's Bertie" Daniel looks at Peter, tears streaming down his face

"He's with Carla don't worry, we need to focus on you and your drinking so why don't you go and have a sleep and sober up" Peter says clearly trying to get Daniel away

"Fine" Daniel says groggily whilst getting up

Daniel goes to his room and Peter picks up the bottle immediately opening it and downing what's left of it then taking a deep sigh of relief

Soon Peter has drunk every bottle in sight unable to help himself and is now feeling a tad tipsy, he walks home smiling and having this happy energy about him

Carla is sat with Roy and Bertie smiling at Bertie and talking to him in a baby style voice and Peter walks in and immediately walks over to her

"Carla!" He says in a surprisingly upbeat mood

"Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" She looks at him and questions him a little

"Cause! Everything's perfect" he replies as he puts his hands around Carla

As he does Carla notices the smell of alcohol and pushes him off

"What?" Peter says with a smile

"Have you been drinking?" Carla answers looking concerned and worried

"Noooooo" Peter replies with a giggle

She looks sternly at him whilst he giggles

"Okay maybe a bottle or two..."

Roy walks into the bedroom with Bertie suspecting an argument will burst, his suspicions being right: one did burst

"How could you Peter!" Carla replies as the top of her voice whilst trying to be hush for Bertie

"It was there... I couldn't help myself" Peter replies looking at her with his puppy dog eyes but Carla wasn't having it

"You've tried so hard to not fall off the wagon! You've just got back on it and you fell off again" she expresses with a huge frown on her face

"I'm sorry..." Peter replies like a five year old who had an argument with their mum

"I can't do this..." Carla says quickly as she gets up and rushes into her bedroom

"Carla wait! I'm sorry, please" Peter replies as he starts to realise what is going on without the slight fog in his head and rushes over to the door but she shuts in it his face

"Carla..." he says woozily and sighs

"Just go and sober up" Carla snaps as she starts to feel emotional but she doesn't understand why

A few hours later Peter has tried to sober himself up and is sleeping fairly peacefully on the couch

Carla smiles at him as she comes out of her room to see him and gives him a kiss on the forehead as he has a gentle smile that grows across his face in his sleep

"Mmmm" Peter says happily and smiling

"Shhhh" Carla replies quietly

Peter rolls over and Carla puts a blanket over him keeping him warm, she then looks at Roy's glass thermometer to see which one oval hangs the lowest, reading the number hanging from the lowest one, it says it's 10 degrees meaning it could be 10 degrees celcius or lower

She suddenly remembers about Bertie having forgotten about him all this time, she panics as she runs around the house trying to find him

Bursting into Roy's room to find him asleep on the bed with Bertie sleeping peacefully in his arms, a huge smile brightens up Carla's face as she sighs with relief and think about how adorable the whole situation is, before she knows it someone walks over and puts their arms around Carla, feeling satisfied she lets them thinking it's Peter having woken and sobered up

"Hey you all sobered up now?" She says as she puts her hands on their hands

"Why wouldn't I be" Daniel says with a chuckle

She turns around and quickly moves shocked "Daniel?"

"What's this?" Peter replies concerned, standing behind Daniel

"This isn't what it looks like" Carla says starting to panic

"Hey it's just a laugh, I'm here to get Bertie" Daniel replies with a smile

"Not a very funny laugh" Peter says with a serious face

"Bertie's sleeping Daniel, as you can see so why don't you go make a coffee" Carla replies trying to stop an argument and get Daniel out of the way

"Alright" Daniel says as he leaves

Peter looks at Carla and puts his hands out "is someone going to explain this to me then?"

Carla walks over to him and puts her hands together then onto his chest

"I promise you it's not what it looks like, Daniel walked over and put his hands around me and I thought it was you so as soon as I realised it was him I quickly moved" Carla says quickly as she panics that Peter will get angry

"Hey, hey it's okay, calm down, come here" Peter replies softly whilst pulling her in for a hug

Carla hugs him and buries her head into her chest having no clue why she is like this when she never is but just puts it down to her medication... but is that the reason?


End file.
